As the 2019-20 school year begins, the administration and student council have made changes to the school’s policies. From cell phone pouches to homecoming activities, this school year will be one of changes.

The first of the changes was made by the student council members and will affect the homecoming activities. The student body will once again participate in the homecoming parade by having each class decorate and have a float in the parade to compete on which float looks better. Student council president Ryn Petrowske said that the floats really involves the community in what the student body does for Homecoming.

The other change made by the student council is a change in class colors. Every year, a class would have a class color to represent them during activities such as the homecoming games. The Senior class chose the color red as freshmen to represent the class of 2020. However, this past summer the Senior class lost a classmate, so to honor the memory of Brandon Schwier, the Senior class will now have a class color of blue in his memory. 

While the Student council has made quite a few changes, the administration has made some big changes in policy and rules. The biggest change, and possibly the most controversial, is the Yondr cell phone pouches. The discussion of the use of these pouches has been going on since last school year. Those who purchase a Yondr pouch are given one in the morning to use throughout the day to keep their cell phone in to control the issue of cell phones. Students who have not purchased a Yondr pouch will not be able to bring their phones to school, and those who violate this rule and are seen with a cell phone out not during the permitted time will receive an ACR. 

Along with punishments, there will be no more homeroom detention. Administration changed this rule because they claimed that by halfway through a student’s week in the homeroom, the student will ultimately have forgotten what they are being punished for. In its place, a lunch detention rule will be in effect. Those who receive a lunch detention will have their lunch in a separate room from everyone else and will not be permitted to get on their phone at that time.  

Similar to the cell phone rules, the dress code has always been a controversial topic. Students in the past were not allowed to wear ripped pants, such as purposely-ripped jeans to school. With this rule in effect, students were not allowed to have on a separate pair of pants, such as leggings, to hide their skin in the replacement of patches in their other pair of pants. However, this year the administration has permitted students to be able to wear a separate pair of pants to blockade the showing of skin due to the rips in pants.  Representatives from the student council were consulted on dress code policy.

There are a variety of different changes to policy, and students have very mixed opinions on the changes overall. Administration and the student council have made their decisions to help the school year run better than in previous years.